Wilson's zoning acts lead me to support Stanton

My decision to support Rick Stanton's bid to replace Phil Wilson on the North Hampton Select Board is motivated in large part by Mr. Wilson's leadership of the current board in dealing with a matter involving the Little Boar's Head Village District, in which I reside.

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Posted Mar. 7, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Posted Mar. 7, 2014 at 2:00 AM

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March 3 — To the Editor:

My decision to support Rick Stanton's bid to replace Phil Wilson on the North Hampton Select Board is motivated in large part by Mr. Wilson's leadership of the current board in dealing with a matter involving the Little Boar's Head Village District, in which I reside.

In fall 2012, North Hampton town counsel advised that New Hampshire law does not allow the long-standing arrangement in which both the town zoning ordinance and the Little Boar's Head zoning ordinance have applied in the village district.

In a good-faith effort to resolve this issue, two of the village district commissioners and their legal counsel met with town Select Board member Jim Maggiori, the town administrator and town legal counsel.

It was agreed by all participants at that meeting that town counsel and Little Boar's Head counsel would work together to modify the existing arrangement along the lines of the shared zoning jurisdiction arrangement between the town of Rye and the Rye Beach Village District.

The two lawyers had made substantial progress toward that goal when, in June 2013, Mr. Wilson suddenly announced that the proposed town of Rye/Rye Beach arrangement would not be acceptable and that, instead, Little Boar's Head must either abandon its zoning authority, granted by the state legislature in 1937, or become an entirely independent zoning jurisdiction, relinquishing all North Hampton town ordinance protections.

Mr. Wilson offered a litany of disastrous development consequences if the village district became an independent zoning authority, without acknowledging that none would occur if the shared zoning arrangement the two lawyers had been working out were implemented.

Moreover, he persuaded the Select Board to threaten to terminate the town building code enforcement officer's supervision of construction activities in Little Boar's Head if its commissioners did not accede to his demands.

I was relieved to learn that the Select Board has, just recently and after all this time, finally withdrawn its threat to withhold building code enforcement oversight from the village district, although I regret that, due to Mr. Wilson's intervention, the shared jurisdiction arrangement proposed by town and village district counsel will not be pursued.

And I remain deeply disturbed by the heavy-handed and, in my view, reckless manner in which the Select Board, led by Mr. Wilson, has acted in this matter.

I must also mention that considerable legal expenses have been incurred by both the town and the village district, all to no avail because of the position embraced by Mr. Wilson.

Having decided to cast my vote for Rick Stanton, I urge my Little Boar's Head neighbors and the residents of North Hampton to do the same.